VEGAN GLUTEN-FREE BERRY CARAMEL CAKE

Follow my blog with BloglovinI could think of a worse summer “job”: I’ve been testing cake recipes for a while now. Kind of a dream job of mine. My children aren’t complaining either 😉 My goal was to create a traditional strawberry sponge cake with a twist. I love how this idea evolved…first into a layered cake and then into this: Berry Caramel Cake ice cream cones! The fun part of this recipe is that there are many possible flavor combinations and cake designs to be made: a sleek traditional cake or creative cakes in any shape and size.

The basic sponge cake is based on a recipe I found from a Finnish vegan blog kamomillankonditoria.com (a great resource for vegan baking enthusiasts, blog in Finnish). Although the recipe was already vegan and gluten-free, I altered it a bit, as I always do, because I simply can’t follow a recipe 🙂 Here are some of my observations:

I used unrefined dehydrated whole cane sugar instead of white refined sugar. Although this unique caramel tasting sugar is slightly healthier (= it contains more minerals and vitamins than the processed white version), it is still SUGAR. So I’m not going to claim this cake is super healthy, but then again, I always seek balance in life (green smoothies, cake, Buddha bowls, berry pie…)

There’s a little secret in the cake batter! Not a sneaky veggie this time, but a liquid, which makes the cake more fluffy – sparkling water.

I used a gluten-free white flour mix (Doves Farm). Gluten-free baking can be pretty tricky, and this time I played it safe with a flour mix I know performs well. The flour mix is actually a bread flour mix, but it worked amazingly in this cake (together with oat flour).

There is sneaky fruit in the batter – bananas! Bananas make baked goods moist, and I was happy with the results. Btw you can’t taste the banana at all.

I baked the cake in an oven baking tray (instead of a cake pan), just as the original recipe suggests. This is a trick I really recommend, because it allows you to play with the cake shapes much more. And I do love to play with food!

Magical cake in the making. Spot the secret ingredient 🙂

Baking the cake in a baking tray – simple and convenient!

Ice cream cakes waiting to be filled with cream and berries.

Even though the cake is moist and fluffy I recommend to moisten it even more with a sweet liquid of choice (after baking and after chilling the cake for a while). I often use organic apple juice, but lemon water with sweetener works out just as well. When I was little, my mother used to moisten cakes with 7 Up, but I won’t recommend that trick anymore 😉

I wanted a basic cream + berries combo for the cake filling, as this is a classic summer cake. The cream is whipped coconut cream with a twist. I added plant-based yogurt and lemon juice to the cream, and also couldn’t resist adding a superfood energy boost: vitamin C rich Organic Burst baobab powder! The berries in the filling are actually just mashed strawberries made into chia jam. Chia jam is super simple to make, and a whole lotta healthier than store bought alternatives.

To accompany the traditional cream and fresh berries frosting I used a lovely nut butter caramel and caramelized nuts to get a pleasant caramel flavor and a little crunch, too. When taking a piece of the cute cake, I seriously urge you to take a piece of both parts – the cone and the ice cream! It’s the combination of berries and caramel which makes this cake really special 🙂

So are you ready to bake some CAKE?! ps. please don’t let the long recipe scare you away – this cake is pretty simple to make despite the various steps 🙂

Combine dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix. Add the sparkling water gently when everything else is well blended.

Pour the cake batter into an oven baking tray lined with parchment paper. Spread the batter evenly into every corner. Bake for 20 min. Let cake chill before cutting it into ice cream (or other shapes) and before moistening it with apple juice.

Whipped coconut cream: NOTE: you might want to prepare whipped coconut cream for the filling and the frosting at the same time - just combine the two (same) recipes to get the correct amounts.

Scoop out the creamy part from the chilled coconut milk cans. Add other ingredients and whisk with a hand mixer until fluffy and creamy. Taste and add more sweetener if needed.

Strawberry chia jam: Add all ingredients into a saucepan and let simmer in low-medium heat for about 2-5 minutes (depending on weather you're using fresh or frozen berries). Put jam into a sealed container and let chill. Put in the fridge while you prepare the frosting.

Caramel frosting: Add all ingredients to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Taste and add more sweetener (or salt) if needed.

Caramelized nuts: Put coconut oil, maple syrup, cinnamon, vanilla and salt in a skillet and set heat to medium. Stir the ingredients for a few minutes and add chopped nuts. Coat the nuts with the coconut oil + syrup sauce and continue stirring for about 5 minutes until nuts turn golden brown. Remove from heat and let chill.

Making the ice cream cone cake: Measure the cake to determine the size of the cones you can cut. My cake was about 13,5 x 11,5 inch (35 cm x 29 cm).

Draw and cut an ice cream cone shaped figure from (parchment) paper. The size of the cone should be small enough to fit into the cake four times (if you're making two small cakes). My ice cream cone was 8 x 5 inch (the widest ice cream part was 5 inches), 20 cm x 13 cm.

Cut the ice cream cone shapes with a sharp knife.

Flip two of the ice cream cakes over so that the "spongy" part is up. These two parts will be the first layers of the cakes.

Moisten the two cakes with apple juice. Use a spoon to distribute the liquid evenly to every part.

Add strawberry jam on top of the moistened cake layers. Spread evenly.

Spread whipped coconut cream on top of the jam. Optional: add sliced fresh berries on top of the cream.

Put the second layer on top of the first one.

Make the cone first by spreading the caramel frosting evenly all around the cone (to the sides as well). Add caramelized nuts - they will stick well to the frosting.

Spread whipped cream evenly to the ice cream part and top with fresh berries.

Cake: the cake tastes yummy right after baking, but it tastes even better after a few hours (in the fridge) so that the flavors have settled and the cake is more moist. Keep the cake covered well in the fridge (for up to 5 days).

When you make an ice cream cone shaped cake, there will be some cake leftover. You can use these extra cake pieces to make a cake in a jar or tiny layered cakes (see my Instagram image for inspiration). If you want to make a simple cake, just cut the cake in half in equal sizes and fill according to the recipe (or however you like:)

Coconut cream: the amount of coconut cream in a can varies depending on the brand used. If you don't want to use all of the cream for the cake, you can always save it for puddings (check out my key lime pie chia pudding here) or for nice creams. The liquid part of the coconut milk can you can use up in smoothies.

3.4.3177

ps. See the layered sponge cake version of my cake featured in The Feedfeed Vegan desserts feed. This cake is also featured in Shape.com as a Cake-in-a-Jar parfait. This cake can really turn into anything 🙂

Hi Janine! Supposedly it is one of the healthiest sugars as it is totally unrefined. But it still is SUGAR…so I wouldn’t say it’s healthy 🙂 I think coconut sugar would work really well in this cake, too! This is one of our favorite cakes now, tastes like summer 😉 Have a beautiful weekend <3

I don’t know what to be most excited about–the sparkling water tip, the fact that there is jam hiding underneath the “ice-cream” and “cone”, or the immeasurable amount of cuteness! Every single component has me wanting to dance all the way to the kitchen and bake up an ice cream cone of my own 🙂 But really I learned so many things here. The sparkling water part is so smart, and also moistening?! I’ve never heard of that! Do you just dab on the apple juice and let it soak in a bit? I can see where it would add moisture, plus extra fruity sweetness of course! And the caramel + caramelized nut part looks so very yummy–like german chocolate cake sorta. I love the look of all these flavors and parts and pieces so much, although I think trying to pick it up and lick it might be a bad idea lol 😀

Hey lovely 🙂 Have to admit the cute shape of the cake made this extra kid-friendly and they couldn’t get enough of it. We had cake many days in a row (as I was testing this) haha so I guess we had a slight sugar overdose that week. We’ve always moistened cakes with a sweet liquid (just dabbing it with a spoon to get it all over), it’s a really easy trick to get more flavor and juiciness. I actually use a lot of freshly squeezed lemon + water + maple syrup/coconut sugar to moisten, but this time I wanted even more sweetness, so apple juice to the rescue 😉 Hope you’re having an extra sweet weekend <3